We kick off our reviews of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” with “Cat and Mouse” it is episode 16 in Season 2 but first in the timeline of events that occur in the series. I got to say, I was much more impressed than I thought I’d be. There are some problems that were obvious, but when it comes to the four core speaking characters I actually cared about them and was curious about what choices they would choose to make. The villain also had a cool design and great backstory.

The episode was directed by Kyle Dunlevy and written by Drew Z. Greenberg and Brian Larsen.

The story involves Anakin and Obi-Wan trying to get supplies to Christophsis which is under siege by the Confederacy Admiral Trench. They must get supplies to Bail Organa and stop the siege before Christophsis is lost to the Confederacy. Anakin is leading the attack before Obi-Wan arrives with a secret weapon that could change the course of the battle.

The Pros: The Action – The action sequences are beautiful and really show how big and important all our characters are. Anakin and Obi-Wan feel like generals commanding troops and Trench feels like a threat with his overwhelming numbers and destruction he has done to Christophsis. For this reason his defeat and what it takes to get there feels wonderful.

Admiral Yularen – Is the Admiral over Anikan but works directly with him as he had lost troops to Trench before and wants to play a part in Trench’s downfall when they use the secret cloaked ship that Obi-Wan brought. He goes with Anakin not delivering the supplies for the risky plot to end Trench showing how flexible he is.

Admiral Trench – Trench looks like a giant spider and has a great design. He is a thinker and we see how he thinks all of his plans fully through. He also would have one the battle and not been destroyed if Anakin had been less reckless, which is what he was banking on since he had more ships and the largest ship in the fleet, where Anakin just had a small cloaked vessel. I really liked this guy. He was a respected Admiral for a reason.

Anakin Skywalker – Anakin makes a hard choice to use the cloaked vessel to fight and end Trench rather than delivering the supplies. It was the right one in the end and Organa thanks him. In this we see that Skywalker is very ends justify the means contrasted with Obi-Wan’s quest to save lives. Neither approach is wrong per say, Anakin is just more prone to risk.

Obi-Wan Kenobi – Obi-Wan is the cool head of reason in this who brings a secret cloaked ship to get supplies to Christophsis. It ends up being used as a weapon though by Anakin and we see just how powerless Obi-Wan is to prevent Anakin from doing anything. Obi-Wan was right about that the supplies would have saved lives but wrong in this instance in the fight against Trench as Trench wanted a direct fight as he knew he could win, therefore only surprise could beat him.

Okay: The Clones – We get some personality shown when a new recruit named Sparky takes over for a clone who dies and quickly learns that nothing is routine with Anakin and that every mission is going on the offensive. It’s a powerful short sequence they have talking together and you realize that they’re trapped in the war even though they’re feeling beings with their own choices.

The Cons: The Droids – The droids were made to be comedic and that was really annoying. Battle droids knocked heads and the Hyena Droids were laughing as they were flying. Don’t make the enemy of your series a joke, that just reflects poorly on the writing. Trench should not have to be the only real threat this episode.

This was a great episode that gave a great exploration of two ways of thought. Action and from action solving a problem immediately even though it may be reckless, and waiting and patience which might win the long term but could also lead to further suffering through inaction. These ideas are contrasted in Obi-Wan and Anakin and it made the episode a pleasure to watch.